Grazing with Marty Moose (GWMM) is a youth direct education and PSE intervention designed to help 3rd grade students make healthier food and physical activity choices while encouraging schools and parents to create environments that support students in making these choices. Nutrition educators teach the 5-lesson series in classrooms and work with teachers, administration, and staff to implement classroom and school-wide PSEs. Students explore MyPlate and food groups while trying new physical activities and foods in each lesson. PSE changes are implemented at the classroom and school level to encourage healthy eating and increased physical activity of all students.
Intervention Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Reducing Screen Time
SNAP-Ed Strategies: Direct Education, PSE Change
GWMM reaches elementary-aged youth in SNAP-Ed qualifying schools. It addresses the needs of its target audience by providing nutrition and physical activity education, coupled with implementation of PSE supports, to encourage healthy behaviors of elementary-aged youth. This intervention is delivered in elementary schools with greater than 50% free/reduced lunch participation, with direct education targeting 3rd grade classrooms and PSE components implemented throughout the school.
Settings: Schools
Age/Population Group: Elementary School
Race: All
Ethnicity: All
For direct education, there are 5 lessons intended to be delivered weekly, with pre- and post- surveys delivered before and after the series. Adaptations to curriculum and PSE supports should be taken from program recommendations. The curriculum is designed to provide all information necessary for implementation including detailed outlines for each lesson, practiced-based suggestions for working with schools, and strategies for implementing school/classroom PSEs. Suggested resources and references are provided if more information or training is necessary.
Grazing with Marty Moose includes:
- Curriculum binder
- 5 lessons with recipes and physical activity, strategies and tips for implementing PSEs in school settings
- Teaching materials
- Activity cards, visuals, posters
- PSE evaluation tools
- Environmental scans for school and classroom
- Student materials
- Worksheets, reminder cards, stickers, healthy suggestion cards
- PSE Materials
- Posters, breakfast pledge, healthy celebration proclamation, Parent letters with recipes, tip
- Letters for school administrators, teachers, and staff
Surveys were given to both SNAP-Ed educators and teachers in schools where the Grazing with Marty Moose intervention was piloted. Both provided feedback on the acceptability of the intervention in a school setting, and results from these surveys were used to make improvements to the intervention. In addition, students completed pre- and post- tests before and after the 5 classes to assess how the curriculum impacted the behaviors of students and if this is an acceptable intervention for creating behavior change. Pre- and post-tests use the EFNEP Nutrition Education Survey Grades 3-5 to measure this component of acceptability.
- 39% improvement in "I eat vegetables" (p<.001)
- 32% improvement in "I eat fruit" (p<.001)
- 42% improvement in "I choose healthy snacks" (p<.001)
- 28% improvement in "I do physical activities" (p<.001)
- 116 nutrition and physical activity supports implemented: Examples include improvements in the layout or display of food and improvements in free water access. Specific "sub-supports," such as the allowance of water bottles, are clustered under these broader categories.
Evidence Base: Practice-tested
Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.
| Readiness and Capacity - Short Term (ST) | Changes - Medium Term (MT) | Effectiveness and Maintenance - Long Term (LT) | Population Results (R) | |
| Individual | MT1, MT3, MT4 | |||
| Environmental Settings | ST5, ST7 | MT5, MT6 | ||
| Sectors of Influence |
- MT1:
- Increase fruit consumption: In FFY 2018, 234 of 713 youth increased frequency (33% improvement) of vegetable consumption based on matched pre-/post-surveys.
- Increase vegetable consumption: In FFY 2018, 283 of 714 youth increased frequency (40% improvement) of fruit consumption based on matched pre-/post-surveys.
- MT3a: Physical activity and leisure sport: In FFY 2018, 203 of 712 youth increased frequency (29% improvement) of physical activities based on matched pre-/post-surveys.
- MT4a: Clean and wash hands and surfaces often: In FFY 2018, 215 of 709 youth increased frequency (30% improvement) of hand washing based on matched pre-/post- surveys.
- ST5b: 35 schools conducted an environmental scan
- ST7a: 42 partnerships developed
- MT5: 88 nutrition supports adopted
- Mt5f: Nutrition support reach = 8,178 students
- MT6: 28 physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior supports implemented
- MT6f: Physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior supports reach = 5,142
Marty Moose Classroom and School environmental scans are used to evaluate implementation of the PSE components of this intervention. For individual-level change, developers recommend using the EFNEP Nutrition Education Survey Grades 3-5.
Website: The website (https://uwyocnp.org/marty-moose) includes a description of programs offered by Cent$ible Nutrition Program.
Contact Person:
Kira Winters - Program Coordinator
Wyoming SNAP-Ed State Office
307-766-5375
*Updated as of August 20, 2023